The Bitter Aftertaste
by outofivanhoe
Summary: sigh How come whenever I try to write a summary it sounds horrendously cliched? Basically, it's about Ginny. It's GD. Hopefully Ginny grows up a little over the course of it. And you'll have to read it if you want to find out any more.


**Disclaimer: **The characters are JK Rowling's. The situation and emotions are mine. And no, obviously I'm not making any money out of it.

**A/N: **I would love to receive constructive criticism. This is the first time I've posted a long fic chaptered, and it'd be nice to know what people think, and where they think I can improve.

**Chapter 1 – Summer boredom**

I idly doodled on the sheet of parchment I was supposed to be doing my Charms homework on. To me the very fact that I felt I should be doing my Charms homework was in itself an outrage, and a mark of just how bored I had gotten. Up until this summer I had masterfully upheld the Weasley tradition… well, okay, Fred and George's tradition, of leaving all homework until the last week of the holidays, or until you're actually on the Hogwarts Express if at all possible. I mean, don't get me wrong, I do care about my schoolwork. I'm just not… well, a Hermione. I couldn't bear school controlling any part of my life at home, and I'm perfectly prepared to put homework off until the last minute, just to get a taste of freedom. Unfortunately that hasn't been possible, this summer holidays. I've been bored out of my mind, and have finally had to resort to starting on my homework, or at least starting the long task of doodling on my homework, while we're still in July. Yes, really, July. Over a month before school starts again. Admittedly this is the last day of July, but still. The principle's there.

I'm not used to the neverending boredom six-weeks summer holiday can bring, you see, because with six brothers around, there's always something happening. But not this year… well, Bill and Charlie are still abroad, of course. Naturally we're not visiting them this summer, not with everything going on in this country, and considering my parents are right in the middle of it. And as for Percy, well there's an ugly situation. After my parents and their friends got back in the Ministry's good graces he sent us numerous, pleading letters. He wants to come home. Doesn't even apologise, just explains that given the situation at the time, his actions were perfectly understandable. Well, Mum was all for letting him come home, bringing him back into the family. Dad wasn't. As I recall, he said that 'what he did to us, well… it's not something which can easily be forgiven and forgetten'. I always suspected Dad was a bit of a drama queen. Anyway, that's made things icy between Mum and Dad, and Percy's still in London.

For what it's worth, not that anyone listens to me, I agree with Dad. I want Perce back us much as Mum does… but I don't think we're ever going to get the old Percy back, and I think some of us aren't ever going to forget what he did. Fred and George were disgusted with everything he said, everything he did. All those years Mum told them they were the stain on the family name, I think maybe now they think it's his turn. They know she wouldn't welcome them back so quickly. Bill and Charlie have formed a united front of 'no comment', and I couldn't begin to guess what they're thinking. They were always so much older than me, I never learnt to see through them the way I did the others. Bill's sweet to me, his ickle sister, but he'd never trust me with his opinion on anything big like this. Ron, the one I know best, he could never hide anything from me. He showed me the letter Percy sent him, the one telling him to stay away from Harry. I think he's kept it to remind him what Percy is, to remind him that he doesn't deserve our clemency. Ron would never betray Harry, maybe not even for his family, and besides, Percy betrayed us first. I don't think Ron'll show Mum the letter, though. As dense as he frequently is, as tactless as he is, I think on some level, maybe a very, very deeply hidden subconscious one, he understands that Mum needs to remember Percy as he was in his last years at Hogwarts. The perfect Prefect, the charming Head Boy. Or maybe he realises what I'd do to him if he did show it to her.

And then me. Could I forgive what Percy did to us? I don't know yet. He was my brother, after all, maybe a short-sighted one, the one who thought I was preoccupied with seeing him and Penelope… well, you know, when actually I was in the grip of malevolent forces. But still my brother. I'll always feel affectionate towards him when I see him in the family photo on my bedside table, an ink smudge on his cheek and a bunch of papers in his hands. But on the other hand, I can't help but think of the time I spent under Tom Riddle's control and wonder… if I had taken the blame for those attacks, would Percy have stood by my side with the rest of my family? I guess only time will tell how easy forgiving and forgetting really is.

Anyway, scratch Perce off the list of brothers available to amuse me this summer. As for Fred and George, normally to be relied upon to try setting off Filibuster Fireworks in the shrubbery as a novel way of de-gnoming the garden, or at least really annoying Mum… well, they're in London too. Setting up their business, which is going very well. They might even go international at some point next year. And I'm sitting at home being horribly selfish and wishing they were here with me. Letters about their latest ideas for jokes and the new dragon-hide suits they've bought (and I pray to God those bits aren't true, because, I mean, have you seen those suits?), they just aren't the same as having the real twins here, forcing you to drink a mix of Pepper-up Potion and salamander saliva to see if it'll set your head on fire… okay, I don't always miss them that much. But at least with them here you could throw a Quaffle around or something. If I want to get Chaser next year I'll need practice. And theoretically living with the Gryffindor Keeper should sort that out, but Ron is being more than slightly cold to me since he found out I was dating Dean. Honestly, I love my brother, but I'm only a year younger than him. How long does he expect me to stay single? As long as he does? Because at the rate things are going hell'll freeze over and the Chudley Cannons'll win the league before he asks Hermy out.

So, in conclusion, brothers: can't live with 'em, and unfortunately they're linked to you by blood, so short of killing them there's no way of living without them. Even when they're not living with you, or they're persona non grata like Perce, they're still part of your life, part of the conversation at home. Not that there are any other males who'd make better topics for discussion. I'm swiftly coming to the conclusion that they're all as bad as each other. You see, Ron isn't the only soon-to-be-6th year Gryffindor boy who's being irritatingly cool towards me at the moment. When I get back to school, if this incredibly tedious summer ever ends, Dean Thomas's going to have an awful lot of explaining to do.

So, that's amusing brothers and boyfriends who write regularly ruled out, what else am I going to do this summer? Last year there was the Order, but since the Ministry came to its senses it's become a little more official, and we haven't had to actually move into Grimauld Place. Actually, everyone's avoiding the headquarters now, it reminds them of Sirius, which is dreadful, because he hated the place. He wouldn't want his memory to be associated with it, but I suppose we can't help the tricks our minds play on us. So now most of the meetings, which I am now nowhere near, take place at Lupin's house. I'm not allowed to know anything about them, though at least neither is Ron. Nothing's happening with Harry, either, as far as I can tell, so I can take consolation in the fact that I'm not the only one having a thoroughly boring summer.

In fact I can take even greater encouragement in the thought that at least I didn't spend long hours in the earlier part of the holidays wondering when my OWL results would come, and what I'd do when they did. Even though Ron was being a complete idiot, I still felt incredibly sorry for him the morning it arrived, and he cradled it shaking in his hands, staring at it desperately, avoiding the gazes of our parents, who were both, poor Ron, there. He opened it, still staring at the floor, and then quickly pulled out the parchment. There was a gasp, sounding less like conscious relief than the final expulsion of air from a corpse, and he carried on staring at the letter as if he couldn't believe the words written there.

"I passed," he said. "Well, most things, anyway. I got Os in Defence Against the Dark Arts, thanks to Harry and the DA, of course, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, and Herbology. Then Es in Divination, and Transfiguration. As in Astrology… oh, but they say there's going to be a review of that because everyone got awful marks… and Potions. I got a P in History of Magic, but nobody cares about stuff that happened that long ago anyway." Mum and Dad were both ecstatic, of course, and even I was caught up in the moment enough to sidle up to him and say,

"I guess you might actually live up to that Prefect badge after all," which was as close as I was going to get to saying 'Well done'. But Ron knows me, and he knows I'm proud of him. Harry and Hermione got theirs too, of course. Harry's were roughly similar to Ron's, the surprise entry being an O in Potions, which is a mixed blessing, as it means Harry'll carry on having Snape next year. Hermione, as expected, got Os in everything, even the disaster which was Astronomy. We got owls from those two the same day as the results came out, whereas Dean didn't bother to inform me of his 3 Os, 3 Es and 2 Ps until a week after the day. He'd better have a good explanation for that.

I do think that's just girlish indignation talking, though. I'm starting to feel supremely indifferent towards him… I mean, he's a nice guy, but he doesn't make me feel special. I'm not looking for true love, come on, I'm only 15, but it'd be nice if he felt _something_. Affection, maybe. But I suppose I don't feel anything for him either. Still, that's no excuse to ignore me, and when we get back to school, he's going to have some serious talking to do.


End file.
